The Healing
by Korean Pearl
Summary: Sequel to The Shrink. The return of the dolphins! And... Marco has a twin, a girl that actually doesn't change the course of the universe for once.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Guess what? I don't own the Animorphs! **gasps **And what was the point of this again? Do we even have to write disclaimers? I didn't read any of the rules (beta's note: tut-tut! Be lucky _I_ memorised them . . .), so I really don't know. Are you sure we have to? I mean, I did because I read other fics and they always had them. But maybe it's just an Animorph thing. I mean, I'm sure some Ella Enchanted fics I've read don't have disclaimers. Or maybe they do, I don't remember. But seriously. Isn't putting it in _clearly_ stating that we don't own it? I mean, we aren't trying to publish here.

Whatever. I'll just get to the story.

And a note: I got the idea to start this story along with The Shrink because some people wanted me to get to Maya, but others still want Helen. So here's a nice compromise. I might have to stop work on this a couple chapters in so the Helen chapters that relate will make sense, but other than that, here's your dose of Maya!

Another note: I'm not going to put another summary in for Maya, so for all of you new reviewers, read my other fics. And review them. That way it'll make more sense, and I'll be happy.

**The Healing**

Chapter 1:

My name is Maya.

"Maya, stop daydreaming and help me," Rachel demanded.

I'm an Animorph.

"I can't find anything about the death penalty online – so come help me with that famous brain of yours."

I'm also an alien. Or I was one, anyway.

"Maya! I have to get this project done by tomorrow, and all these missions haven't been helping me any. You don't care about your project, so help me."

I'm half an Andalite, half an Elemaki, from the Andalite Home World. Biracial. Halfie. Whatever you want to call me.

"So, here's a document."

I came to Earth through bizarre circumstances, situations that I can barely grasp myself.

"And it's about snakes."

It's all recorded though, to save my breath. I'm not going to bother explaining it.

"_MAYA!"_

Rachel's shout snapped me out of my reverie and I turned towards her, noting the bags under her eyes. "Yes?"

"What do snakes have to do with the death penalty?"

I looked at the document up on her screen. "Why don't you read it and find out?"

Rachel said nothing, only looked at me with dead eyes.

I sighed, and began searching my mind for any information I might have about the death penalty and snakes.

And sure enough, I found it.

"There's this special type of snake I read about somewhere," I said, as Rachel reached for a pad of paper to write down my words. "It injects potassium chloride into its victim, which gives it an overdose of potassium. Potassium is necessary for our survival, but too much can kill you."

"Hold on," Rachel demanded, as she scribbled what I just said down.

I waited until she looked up, and then continued with, "So in lethal injection situations, they use this type of poison to kill the person."

"Cool."

"There was something else about snakes, too… oh, yeah. I read an article somewhere that even if a snake was dead, it could be revived if it was given something to bite."

"And that's real useful," Rachel commented sarcastically. "Since it's all about the death penalty."

I stuck my tongue out at her and laughed, as she turned to her computer. "Thanks, Maya," she said. "Now do the rest for me while I sleep, since it seems like you never need sleep."

Rachel got out of the chair and stretched, yawning as she climbed into bed. She was immediately out, as if Marco had hit her over the head in his gorilla morph.

"Sleep well," I murmured, before turning to Rachel's report about the death penalty. I finished it quickly, saved it, and printed it out before morphing to merlin and flying out of her open window.

I passed Tobias on my way out to the darkening sky, and warned him, She's sleeping. He answered by swooping away, signaling me with a wing as thanks.

You're welcome, I said, as I flapped away.

The night sky was dotted with stars, and I managed to recognize the system containing the Andalite Home World. It seemed so fragile, so small – I felt like if I flew up high enough, I could peck it out of the sky with my beak.

But I didn't try. I don't waste my time doing stupid, foolish, impossible things.

Ok, maybe I _do_ do stupid and foolish things.

But never impossible ones.

I was a Nadar, after all. A bloodthirsty killing freak, as I called myself. Like Rachel, only she grew to like it while I was forced to it under my circumstances.

But who cared? I didn't, for sure. Mom might care that I was "wasting my life", but she'd just have to deal with it. And I'd deal with her by not telling her the things I did.

Like sneak out at night to do Rachel's homework for her.

I felt a tug in my mind towards the sea, but I shook my thoughts away and let the bird brain take over as I made my way home. No need to worry over little things like that.

-------------------

I woke up exactly five hours later, and got up off the floor. I had since long ago trained my body to depend on as little sleep as possible, and five hours was a luxury in these times.

It was 4:34 AM, according to my internal clock, and I checked it with the digital clock that was by my bedside.

I crept downstairs, hoping that I could get a chance to work in my garden before school started, happy to lose myself in mindless chores such as causing life, instead of death, like I normally did.

And then came school, so I kissed my foster mom goodbye, boarded the bus and went to school and then it hit me.

My father had died a year ago, today.

No wonder Mom had been quieter today at breakfast.

For a moment I was furious at myself for forgetting, and then longing washed over me for my father.

Oh, Daddy, are you proud of me now? I'm still killing, but now I'm fighting for something worthwhile, against my begetter, the Andalite I'll never call Papai.

No, I corrected myself. I was fighting Visser Three. Alloran just happened to be his host.

Yeah, just happened. Some coincidence. Anyone see the Ellimist?

Well, I didn't have any important classes in the afternoon. I could just take off and visit my dad's grave.

And so I did.

I wandered out of the school building, avoiding hall monitors and trying to look like I was going to class when that same tug towards the sea came over me. I paid more attention to it this time before I stepped outside and caught a bus to my dad's graveyard.

Now, a lot of people might think that it's macabre of me to want to be in a graveyard, but after all the death I've been around, graveyards seem almost peaceful. My father's headstone was fairly small with a single Bible verse inscribed on it:

"Greater love hath no man but this; that he lay down his life for his friends."

I stared at it for a long time, wondering what love I had ever shown. All my friends had died for me – they had no greater love but this. But me…

I still lived.

I sat down suddenly, and spread my skirt around neatly as I pulled out a book I had brought. I began reading it as the wind teased my hair, pulling the brown wisps across my face.

The wind also brought sounds of crying to me, and instantly alert, I looked up.

A boy was standing at the edge of a grave, and as he turned to me, I stifled a gasp.

Marco…

My mind flashed instantly to our last mission. I had been a cockroach with Jake in the car that Visser One had driven to the mountain.

And Visser One had died.

Marco's mother.

Although Rachel had told him that she wasn't dead, that she had escaped, that there was no body in the valley, no burn marks where Eva's body had fallen.

I don't think Marco believed her.

I watched him for a little while, as he kneeled awkwardly at his mother's headstone, tears flowing more openly when I closed my book and put it next to my father's grave.

"Keep it for me," I whispered, and then made my way to Marco. His back was to me, and I touched his shoulder.

He jumped around at my touch, and I held a finger to my lips and beckoned. He got up, wiping away his tears as he whispered, "What?"

I grabbed his hand and pulled him closer to me. "Follow me."

Marco followed, somewhat reluctantly as I led him down to the city and caught another bus. We sat next to each other as the bus made its way to the beach where we had fought constant battles, and then I paid for our fares.

"Where are we going?" he asked, his usual joking tone gone. "And why were you out of school?"

"My dad died a year ago today," I told him, and I didn't wait for the pity I knew wouldn't come. Both Marco and I knew that pity was useless and neither of us wanted it.

I pulled him across the sand relentlessly, not even aware of where I was going when I found myself at the edge of a rock cliff that protruded out slightly over the ocean.

Marco was looking at me uncertainly.

I ignored him, and dropped his hand, looking out to deep purple sea.

There they were.

I smiled, happy that my dolphin sense hadn't been destroyed in the years I had spent away from the sea. Those tugs…

"The dolphins are calling me," I said to Marco, and he smiled wryly. "What, like Cassie speaking to a whale?"

I frowned for a moment, puzzled, and then remembered that I hadn't been present then, although I had heard about it from various Animorphs.

"C'mon," I told him. "Come with me."

"Down there?" Marco asked incredulously, looking past the cliff to the pounding waves below. "Do you want to die?"

"Do you?"

Startled by my question, he looked up, and I saw a haunting look in his eyes that was familiar to me.

I saw the same haunting look every time I gazed into a mirror.

I was swept by a sudden longing to erase that look from his eyes, to stop it from taking over his body like a cancer, to stop it from eating up his heart and causing his ruthlessness to take over his humor, the only thing that stood between Marco as Marco and Marco as a Nadar.

I pulled my dress over my head and stood in the salt-filled air in my bathing suit. Marco followed suit, stripping off his shirt until he stood in his bike shorts and spandex top.

"I don't ever take this off anymore," he complained, and, laughing as the wind increased and blew past my face, I grabbed his hand.

"Come meet my family," I told him, my eyes shining.

Marco didn't resist as we stepped closer to the cliff and with a shout of delight, we jumped into the waiting sea.

**Review Responses**

No responses, because this is a new story and I'm responding to reviews with my continuing old story, The Shrink. Enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

The water closed over my head and I kicked myself up, still holding Marco's hand. Shaking the salty spray from my eyes, I scissor-kicked my way across the surface of the ocean, away from the pounding surf.

"Where are we going?" Marco asked me as I led him further out.

And then they were surrounding us, they were all among us, they lifted us up in their being as I cried out sharply, a cry of delight for they were there.

I let go of Marco's hand, leaving him among the dolphins as I weaved through the others, searching for a familiar face.

And Old One was before me.

I touched heads with him, squeaking in an attempt to convey my joy at seeing him. He smiled, as dolphins do, and asked, _Who is the earth Person you brought to us?_

_He is crying out, _I told him, and my memory flashed back to our conversation in the sea, six years ago.

_It is time for you to return_, the Old One had told me, and I had asked why.

_It is time for you to return to your People._

_Aren't I one of your People as well, Old One_?

_My Daughter, you are of the sea people, and you will always be of the sea People. But you are also of the earth People and you are also of the star People. Who will you claim as your true People?_

A flashback of a human girl shooting a gun at a baby, and then at an eight year old.

"I was a 1st generation Nadar" had echoed back to me.

But that made no sense! The Nadar weren't a People!

_No, no,_ the Old One had soothed. _The Nadar aren't a People._

_Then what do you mean?_

_But there are Nadar. Among the earth People. Among the star People. Even among the sea People, although there are none in this pod._

I had waited.

_When we sent Fast Tail to get you, we sent him to collect someone who looked like one of the earth People, but would have the mind of the star People, the emotions of the sea People, and the heart of the Nadar_.

I noticed that he didn't include the Nadar as having a People.

_The Nadar are crying out,_ he continued. _The way you cried out in your heart when you thought you were dying in the ocean before Fast Tail found you._

It clicked.

Fast Tail was sent to collect me when I was crying out.

And I would be sent to collect Nadar that were also crying out.

My old half forgotten plans of a Nadar government had leapt to the surface. A warrior ruling over the Nadar, who protected the freedom of the civilians, or Kyan, as they were called.

_But Marco isn't a Nadar, _I corrected myself, telling this to Old One. _He is…_

_A lost one, _Old One told me gently. _My Daughter, he is hurting._

_I know. I thought that bringing him here might do something. _

_Go to him now, while we rise and sing with the sun._

I filled my lungs with air, and then dived under the sea, my eyes adjusting to the saltiness. I continued to swim, greeting Kind Sister under water when I found Beloved Son.

Marco was riding on his back.

"Marco!" I cried, as soon as my head was out of water. His face turned to me, and I saw pure joy emanating from him.

"Maya!"

Beloved Son dove towards me, Marco slipping from his wet back as they both went underwater. Marco came up first, sputtering as he laughed.

Beloved Son shot out of the water in a perfect arc, and I cheered for him, knowing that he was showing off for me, his mother.

Marco swam over to me in doggy paddle, and I laughed, teasing him with my broad strokes and splashes. He made a face, and asked, "Where did you learn to swim?"

"In the Sea of Japan, as the Japanese call it. Or the East Sea, as the South Koreans call it. Or the East Sea of Korea, as the North Koreans call it. I was a slave to a pearl fisher there, and he tossed us into the sea with a brick around our legs to collect pearls. I learned how to swim pretty quickly."

"Whoa," Marco commented. "I learned from our various missions in the sea. You know, the whole dropping from the edge of a ship as a dolphin kinda got tiring."

I smiled, and flipped backwards so I was surfing on Kind Sister's back. I pulled Marco up next to me, but he stumbled and began falling backwards.

I grabbed his arm and yanked him up. "Hold on," I told him, as he grabbed my arm.

The pod all around us began jumping, swimming, flashing their fins and tails as Kind Sister dutifully swam us through so we could see. I spoke to her, asking her to take us down, and she did so quickly that we were in the water before I finished my request.

Mouth full of water, I pulled Marco back to meet Old One.

"Marco, this is Old One," I told him, and then turned to Old One. _This is Marco, of the earth People._

"Ok, I introduced you," I told Marco, who looked at me uncertainly. "You mean you _talked_ to him?"

"As crazy as your life has gotten, why should this surprise you?"

"Still," Marco countered. "Talking to a dolphin…"

"Try," I urged.

"What should I say?"

"Anything."

Marco raised one eyebrow, and then shrugged, clearly saying, ok whatever. He took a deep breath, and then asked, _Is my mother dead?_

I started, taken completely by surprise, when Beloved Son distracted me. He led me away from Marco and Old One, and introduced me to his litter of children. I smiled over each of them, and congratulated his wife, whom he told me was named Beautiful Fin.

Then Beloved Son told me, in an almost conspiratorial whisper, _The space People are doing something in the ocean._

_Yeerks? _I asked, feeling that same heady feeling I always got whenever we planned a mission.

_The small space People,_ Beloved Son corrected. _The ones that enter People's minds. They entered sea People's minds once – the biters._

_Sharks._

_The nasty biting cruel sea People, _Beloved Son corrected once more as I stifled a grin.

So Yeerks, definitely.

For a moment my heart went out to Marco, but I stifled that as well, turning to Beloved Son for more information.

_How do you know?_

_A great one told us, _he said. _The great one told us little ones to tell the two-leggers who can change into little ones._

_Thank you, _I said. _Now, what are the Yeerks doing?_

_They live on a piece of land that is surrounded by the sea, and they scurry about all day, pointing big objects at the sun and screaming at each other._

I smiled again. Sounded pretty accurate.

But big objects at the sun… what could that be?

I asked Beloved Son, but he didn't know, although he offered to find out. I thanked him again, and told him not to go near the small space People if he wished for his children to grow up with a father.

I kissed his rubbery skin, and then turned to find Marco treading water, his gaze fixed on the distant land.

"Marco?" I asked.

He looked up, and smiled slowly. "Let's go."

The dolphins helped us back to shore, and we crawled up onto the beach, warmed from our exercise in the water and from the sun that was high in the sky.

_Come back soon! Come back soon! _The pod begged me, and I promised that I would as soon as I could.

Marco and I turned to watch them disappear back east, jumping and splashing each other in their own simple way.

"So, are you going to ask what Old One told me?"

I looked at him, the boy whose face was alight with some strange new…

Hope.

"No," I decided, and Marco looked satisfied.

We turned back to face the east.

---------------

I leaned closer into Marco's chest as his arm tightened around my shoulders. "Marco?" I whispered.

"Yeah?"

"What _did _Old One tell you?"

"He said, 'What does your heart tell you?'"

For a while there was no sound but the waves as they crashed onto the beach, and fell back, obedient to the call of the moon - only to rise again in defiance, and then fall back once more.

"And I figured, since he was a dolphin, and that whale that Cassie had talked to had given her pretty good info, maybe…"

I reached up an arm and smoothed down his hair, pulling myself up on one elbow. He smiled, and tugged at my neck. I relaxed in his hold, lying on his chest as I curled my fingers around his hair.

We were lying on the beach, well above the tide, in the hot but smooth sand as I let myself relax as I had never done before.

My mind buzzed as always behind my body, asking me why I was doing this, what was I doing, what am I thinking…

But for some reason, my body hadn't clicked with my mind's anxiety and so I lay there, happily intoxicated by Marco's warmth and my own passions.

"My dad's going to kill me," Marco finally whispered. "He doesn't know I cut."

"My mom'll be mad, but I'll just explain and it'll be ok."

Marco said nothing for a while, and I realized that I had reminded him of my mother, while his mother…

"Let's go," I said this time, and slowly we got up, dusting the sand from our bodies. We picked up our clothes from the cliff, and dressed slowly as we talked, joining hands as we made our way down to the town.

Why was I so relaxed? My mind buzzed again, and I brushed the thought off like I would brush a mosquito away from my ear. It came back though, and buzzed more persistently. Why? Why? Why?

Almost violently, I turned towards Marco and looked straight into his eyes.

He looked back, and tentatively, touched my cheek. I leaned forward, wrapping my arms around his neck as we closed our eyes.

And I was just another human girl, wanting to kiss a human boy, when –

My mind exploded under my body's relaxed state and took control. My arms stiffened instinctively as my heart screamed.

_NO! NO! NO! _It told me. _You're NOT a human girl. Don't fool yourself with your body and with your body's desires. Control them. You are not an Elemaki, you are not an Andalite, you are not Korean, you are not Caucasian, and you are certainly not American. You are not human. You are a Nadar, and never forget that._

_And Nadar do not love without paying an incredible cost._

I pulled away from Marco, and stared at him with different eyes, cold eyes, eyes he had never seen on my face.

"Forget it," I croaked, this time in Control. "Forget this day. It never happened. Forget it!"

I was practically screaming by the time I had finished, and I know I was running from him, running from the way he had opened up my shell and seen my vulnerability.

For I was a dragon, and he had found the hollow in my armor, a hollow that spelt my destruction if anyone found it.

I was a Nadar, and I would not forget it.

**Review Responses**

I know what you're thinking. Maya and Marco? No! I thought Maya was going to hook up with Ax!

My beta is smacking me right now for stopping them from kissing. Poor Maya! She says, as she hits me. Ow.

Ok, I'm back. Sorry for waiting so long to update. I'm going to update The Shrink as soon as I write the chapter.

And sorry Wraithlord – I didn't want to wait to email it this time.

And another question. Seventeen people have me on their favorites, and eleven have me on their author alert. I'm not asking for seventeen reviews per each chapter, because that would be heaven and I'm not dead yet. But some people, (I won't point you out by name) aren't reviewing. Again, puzzlement. See the wrinkled brow? wrinkles brow Why? Just a short review is fine, I'm not asking for essays. Just tell me if you like it or not, and if you feel ambitious, what I could do to improve. Reviews help encourage me to update faster. I'm serious, there is a correlation. I could do a study on what the percentages are, but I'd rather write. And you'd rather read. So review, and that brings us together.

I think I've said this before.

**A-cat – **Hey! I was at a Bible conference actually, and had no access to internet and story to upload at the same time. I think I did mention that Maya had a garden before, but I don't remember. And sleeping on the floor, we'll see. And Maya just feels that she could have stopped the deaths of many of her friends if she had died for them, but she "allowed" them to die for her. She is fighting for a cause, though. And Marco gets to meet the dolphins! He stays human, though as you can see. Thanks for your review!

**Birdie – **As you know, I imagine my stories way in advance, so if I hook Marco and Maya up, I have to go back through years of imagination to unhook them. That's why Ax never made it. And thanks for your review!

**Hey **– thank you, thank you.

**Hell-Flame-Narf – **Sorry, didn't I? I must have missed it. Well, here's a review response!

**Kaz456 – **A new reviewer! Yay! And you've been following along? That way it'll make more sense. Here's more Maya!

**DH – **I'm responding even though you didn't review. I'm guessing you're on vacation, because you requested Maya and then when I started her, you didn't read it. Here's Maya!

So again, if any of you seventeen people feel like dropping a review after all this time, please do so. It'll make me happy, and I'll update faster if I'm happy – if I feel like my work is appreciated. Thank you!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

"Mom!"

The word burst from my lips, a bullet shooting out from a haphazardly aimed gun. I spoke without thinking – a rarity for me – and cried out. "Mom!"

She looked up, and for a moment I stared at her, no longer seeing her as the typical suburban American mother, but someone like me. Someone I could relate to.

"What is it?" she asked, and I could hear in her tone, how she too had changed her position to me. There was nothing left to hide, and we could now show our true attitudes to each other.

Except at that moment I wasn't really thinking of her as a would-have-been Nadar, but as a mother. Not a typical suburban American "oh, honey, how was your day?" mother, but a_ mother_

As a Mamai.

"I cut class," I told her, and she nodded, saying, "I thought so."

"But Mom," I said, almost desperately, "Marco was with me."

"Oh?"

Slowly, almost resentfully, I told her how we went to the dolphins, and how they had told us about the new base the Yeerks were building. I told her about how we had gone to the beach in an attempt to forget about the war for just a moment, but…

Mom smiled as I looked up, waiting to hear her verdict. "Nadar or not," she told me, "You're a teenage girl."

I lifted my hands up and pulled my eyebrows down in a what? You're crazy, face but she still smiled. "I knew that there was something still human about you," she said.

"Sentient," I corrected, but Mom shook her head.

"No," she explained. "You have a human body, which is, not _regulated, _but definitely influenced by hormones. Don't give me weird looks, Maya; I know what I'm talking about. A lot of kids your age have hormone rushes and have to see me because something happened at school that makes them think the world is going to end, when, it really isn't."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Mom, I'm a _Nadar_. We don't _have _emotions. We don't _have _feelings."

"Then why did you come running to me after, what? Did he ask you out and you say no? Did you ask him out and he say no? Did you two do something really stupid that you're going to regret for, oh, however long it takes for your memory to rot away?"

I put my hand over my heart and found out that it was pulsating rapidly under my palm. I clenched my fist in an effort to make it calm down, and when that didn't work I forced myself to relax, letting the entire day soak out of me.

Mom watched me as my breathing slowed, as I gained control over my body, as I allowed my reason to overcome my hormones – were they really hormones? It just sounded so…

Shallow.

I almost laughed aloud. I didn't want to admit to having what Earthling teenagers called "feelings" because it sounded shallow?

"Ok, Mom," I said. "I guess you do know what you're talking about."

She gave me a look that said: Of course I know what I'm talking about. I always know what I'm talking about and this time, I really did laugh.

But even as the laugh left my mouth, I wondered at it and analyzed it as the sound waves traveled from my mouth to Mom's ear. Was it really a laugh, given freely out of mirth, or was it something that I had created by force, something that I knew was appropriate for the time, and so my mind had ordered for its release?

I was still thinking about the control of my mind over my body when I walked into the barn the next day after alerting Jake about the dolphins.

"Dude, my neighbor SHAVED my stepmother's dog" was the first thing I heard when I walked in. Marco was in the corner, animatedly talking to Jake and so I observed them for a moment, obviously eavesdropping on their conversation.

"I'm serious. I thought that she was _normal_. Like, the only normal person in my neighborhood so I was like 'Take care of this dog while I'm away.' And I come home and the dog is SHAVEN. Nora had to buy her dog SWEATERS because she was SHAVEN. What would have to be going through your HEAD to SHAVE a dog? She was like, 'her hair looked tangled so I SHAVED your DOG because that seemed so LOGICAL.'"

Marco shook his head empathetically, while Jake struggled not to laugh. Probably encouraged by his suppressed laughter, Marco continued. "I mean, I don't really _like _the annoying pest all that much, but you gotta feel bad for it. It's hard to have much dignity if you're a shaven dog in a striped sweater. Sheesh. Nora was livid, are you kidding? I thought she was going to shave my head for asking the neighbor to watch the dog while she and Dad went on a vacation. I mean, what was I supposed to do, _entertain _the animal the whole time? I'm busy saving the world!"

Jake was holding his ribs and cracking up by then, and even I smiled as I watched. Marco didn't seem to be any worse for the wear, so…

After the rest of the Animorphs finally stopped laughing, Rachel quipped, "Yeah, right. Busy saving the world? And _that's _why you cut class yesterday?"

Instantly Jake was alert. "You cut class? Marco…"

"Sorry, Dad," Marco said cheerfully, but without any explanation.

"He was with me," I offered. "We both wanted a break so we went to the dolphins, and I already told you about them."

"What dolphins?" Rachel demanded, and we I told the story again, explaining how the dolphins had alerted us to a new project that the Yeerks were doing.

(Are dolphins sentient?) Aximili asked, obviously puzzled. (I wasn't under that impression.)

I shrugged. "I've never really studied or done any research on them. The best explanation I could come up with is that either I'm making up all my conversations with the dolphins in my head and deluding myself, or the dolphins are able to transcend our time constraints after they reach a certain age. Go read A Ring of Endless Light by Madeline L'Engle. She explains it pretty well."

(So it is possible that this exchange with these aforementioned dolphins is merely an illusion projected by the random synapses of your brain?)

(English, Ax.)

"I talked to them, too," Marco interjected suddenly, before Cassie had a chance to explain what she thought about the matter.

I shrugged. "Whether dolphins can or cannot communicate really isn't the point. If we find out that the Yeerks _are_ doing something, like the dolphins said, then we act. If we find out that the Yeerks _aren't _doing anything, then I go see a shrink. Conveniently enough, my mother is one."

I glanced over at Marco and our eyes met for the briefest moment before he turned away. If we had been creating these conversations with the dolphins, then what Old One told Marco about his mother…

"Okay," Jake said. "Let's do some spying."

"Man," Rachel responded with a pout. "I want to actually _do _something."

"Okay," Marco shot back. "You could abduct a space ship and fly it to the stratosphere and then jump out. I mean, that _is doing _something."

Cassie shook her head slightly, a smile showing on her lips as Jake told Ax and Tobias to go out into the sea and check out whatever-it-was before adjourning the meeting. She then beckoned towards me and confused, I went to her.

"What's up?" I asked, as the others began to leave, Marco and Rachel still bantering.

"Is something wrong, Maya?" she asked, her brown eyes searching out my own.

I gritted my teeth mentally and fought the urge to say it was none of her business when she responded.

"I know you think it's none of my business, but if you're feeling bad as we go into a mission, it can cost lives," she said simply, reading my thoughts.

I stared back.

"Are you _sure _you're not a Nadar?" I asked as joke, and then when her brow wrinkled I realized I had slipped.

"A Nadar?"

"An alien term," I said, hiding my mistake smoothly. "It refers to the capability that some have to discern thoughts and emotions by reading body language."

Obviously Cassie was taken in by this because she shrugged. "It isn't so much of a reading that I do, than a feeling. I just felt that you were troubled, so…" she continued, probably hoping for my help which I wasn't going to give. My problems were my own and I would deal with them on my own.

We stood there awkwardly for a minute until Rachel called, "Hey, you guys coming?"

I brushed past Cassie and stepped out of the barn only to hear in my head, (Maya, I would like to speak to you. Privately.)

(At your scoop,) I told him, before continuing on through the forest.

The sun filtered through the leaves, causing some parts of the trees that I touched to be warm, while others remained cold and rough. I walked through slowly, picking my way through fallen logs and mushroom patches.

There was something about the woods that called to me just as the ocean I had, which was odd because they couldn't have been more different. I detested the plains, which reminded me of my childhood on the Andalite Home World, so maybe the wood's almost closed-in atmosphere helped dispel the fear that I sometimes still felt when I thought of the plains.

I avoided the meadows, not wanting to explain to possible campers who I was, and oh, it was so nice to meet you, and maybe I'll see you if we camp here again! Going around the meadows was relatively easy, and I stumbled into Aximili's scoop after a few minutes.

He was already there, pacing back and forth with his eyestalks making tight circles on the ground. He didn't notice me until I was almost next to him, and then I called out, "Aximili!"

The Andalite's tail flew up as he instantly guarded himself, and for a moment I was reminded of my own actions whenever someone startled me. But then he calmed down instantly when he saw who I was.

We stood there for a moment, the wind rustling through the underbrush, as Aximili flatly stated, (So, you're a Nadar.)

So, it was an improvement since he had attacked me for being an Elemaki. Maybe being on Earth was an improvement. Not that humans were all that much better, but still…

(Rachel is, as well.)

His observation, on top of his comment, startled me probably as much as my sudden presence had startled him. How did he know – and what did he mean by telling me?

(Are Nadar evil?) he asked me suddenly, simply, as child might. I looked up at him and opened my mouth to speak, but found out that I didn't know the answer.

Are Nadar evil?

(Rachel loves the war,) he said. (And I know that's wrong. It's wrong to love death and killing. But she's a 3rd gen, right? If she hadn't been exposed to war, she wouldn't have learned to love it. I'm not condoning her, but you…)

Aximili's thought-voice trailed off, and his stalks searched my face.

Was I evil?

Define evil, my mind told me, and I blanked on that again.

What is right and wrong? Did good and evil even exist?

"I don't know," I confessed, remembering all the murders I had committed willingly and freely.

(I know you, Maya,) he said. (Or I know you better than I used to, anyway. Before, I had always thought that Elemaki were not sentient. Or not sentient enough to be deserving of any rights. And now, Nadar…)

I found my tongue. "What I have done is wrong," I told him clearly. "I just don't know how to get out of it. How to stop doing it. Maybe, when I stop – and change – then…"

Nobody today really seemed to want to finish their sentences.

Aximili shrugged, a habit he had picked up. (Let us fight,) he suggested. (You need to learn how to use that tail more.)

I complied, shedding my clothes and morphing into my Elemaki state swiftly and with ease. I held up my half-curved tail in a ready stance, and focused on Aximili's.

His tail reached out to strike, and I barely danced aside. The flat of his blade grazed my side and I knew if he had aimed the sharp blade at me, he would have hit me.

So I intensified my effort, throwing my blade at him, when he stopped and shook his head, another habit he had picked up.

(You're just throwing your blade at me without any tact,) he informed me. (I can easily tell what you are going to do when you are going to do it. Try again.)

I lifted my tail to try again when I heard the cry, "Andalite!"

Both Aximili and I looked up to see a human surrounded by Hork-Bajir, pointing at us both. I immediately bent down and scooped up my clothes and we both began to run.

"GET THEM!" the human shouted, and with a cursory glance with my eye stalks I noted the humans position only to almost stop in shock, but a harsh word from Aximili kept me going.

She had Marco's face stamped on her features, but it wasn't Visser One.

My mind flashed back to my mother's story, and as I began to run for earnest, I heard the whine of a wide-range stun gun as it warmed up.

**Review Responses**

Now, don't get exited, I'm not back yet. I didn't have school today so I took a little break from studying for the PSATs.

But here's another chappie! I missed you all! ::hugs all reviewers:: Did you miss me? And I'm including responses to reviews from the Shrink along with your review for the 2nd chapter of the Healing, so some of these responses might be long.

And I need a poll. It's about Rachel. Should I a) raise her from the dead; b) keep her dead; or c) prevent her death? I really need opinions. I can work with any of the three options, but c) will be rather uncomfortable and I would rather not do that as it will throw a lot off. But if you really want me to… anyway, review, and tell me.

**Hjfg**** – **I'm assuming you're the same person as hj. Sorry if I'm wrong! Anyway, change the summary – I actually use the summary more as a teaser to draw the person in than a real summary. And if you are the same person as last time – did you think the ending of the Shrink got better, or still bad? Just curious. Thanks!

**Eyes of Forest – **I've already pretty much answered this review since we've been having an ongoing conversation through your fic and the prequel responses. ::smiles:: I'm sorry the Shrink is over, but here's another chapter to the Healing!

**Birdie num num – **I'm glad you liked the ending of the Shrink. And I do sometimes pump out chapters really quickly, but lately I've been slowing down. I had hope to get everything written (see my bio) by the end of high school, but I don't think that is going to work anymore… And Maya/Ax vs. Maya/Marco – here's some more about that, just to confuse you all! ::evil grin:: And sorry, I don't know what DISMISSED is. A TV show? ::blushes because of ignorance:: We don't have cable and can't use the TV for anything but the VCR…

**Yrkh8er – **Noooo! I knew I should have updated soon. Now I gave up the chance of owning the Animorphs. Sigh. And finishing this story in 6 months – you know, if I had started this fic in the summer I would have taken you up on that instantly, mostly because I updated like a madwoman, but now, with school… ::attempts to laugh weakly::

**Tabatha**** – **Hey! You're back! I didn't see you in the end of the Shrink, sorry. It's been a while since then – I did add stuff, and now I'm back! Glad you liked her reaction. And also – I have a character for you. I was wondering about names though – is Tabatha ok, or is there something else you want me to use? Let me know!

**Mersang**** – **I'm guessing you like Marco/Maya. Am I right?

**Hey **- ::runs away and hides from field hockey stick::

**Toby Hamee – **Sorry about calling you a new reviewer – I was basing that list on memory and not going through the review boards. I'm glad you got on though! And yeah, PSATs. Gah. And this fic is actually around the 30's. After the book where Marco's mom "dies" from falling off that cliff and the whole Marco is a goat book. And Maya and romance… well, I have weird definitions of romance, as you can see above. I'm pretty cynical about the whole "I'm in high school and I'm in love you with you because you happen to my make-out partner of the week" kinda thing. But, we'll see. Here's the next chapter!

**Kerry – **Sorry that you'll miss the Shrink… by the way, who are you? I know you reviewed a few times, but we never really got to communicate through reviews and review responses. Just curious. I hope you find this chapter!

**Hell-Flame-Narf – **We pretty much communicated on this aspect too – thanks for coming to check out the fictionpress site! I haven't been on in a while, and I probably won't be, but thanks anyway!

**A-cat – **Yeah, Hesser equals cheese. Sorry! It'll all become clear in the end. And reviewers instinct about Maya having not slipped away for good – probably has something to do with the fact that I am writing this as a Christian. ::grins:: The whole Jesus paying with his blood is something I've been leading up to for a while – I can't help it! I just put my fingers on the laptop and it comes out this way. Maybe has something to do with the fact that I pray sometimes before writing my chapters. Especially the ones like that one. And I haven't stayed away for a month, but unfortunately, unless I get another break, I'm afraid I'll have to. Sorry! And yes, a whale did tell them the info. I was kind of thinking it was the same whale that Cassie morphed, but I wasn't really thinking that out clearly. And Marco and Maya on the beach – yeah, they had their morphing clothes on. I don't write sex scenes unless I'm making a point about sex, so, yeah. She and Ax vs. she and Marco – well, this chapter should confuse things up! ::smiles:: And as for being a Nadar, Maya was talking in this chapter that maybe if she stopped wanting to murder, then she could change. But that's a theme I'll be following through the rest of my fics. And sorry that I didn't update soon – but here's a chapter!

**Wraithlord**** – **Gah. Now I feel guilty for not sending this to you. Honestly, I don't have time now to send and upload because I'm writing in bits and pieces of time that is scattered all over, and uploading it in one of those bits and pieces. So I really sorry, and I will get back to you sometime – especially when your character comes in because I don't want to stereotype your character. My aunt is British (father's brother's wife) so I can also ask her questions to make sure everything is realistic. Anyway, really sorry, but I will get back to you!

**DH – **Yup! Helen is a born again. And I already answered the AP questions – I like my AP English teacher, actually, even though that class is next semester. I know her and she's cool. I'm actually a math/English person myself, (which is a pretty weird combination.) I have a friend who is so totally math and science – she wants to go to MIT and become a chemical engineer. So, I don't really know if AP English will be bad yet or not. And your review to the Healing actually affected the outcome of this chapter – I wasn't going to have any Ax/Maya interaction, but it just came out! Seriously, my fingers just typed it. And Marco being a womanizer – I call them manwhores, because I think its sexist to assume that whores are naturally women. Sure, maybe you can tell if women are womanwhores easier, but still. Mansluts and womansluts, too. Sorry, I'm being weird. And Marco being out of character – I have a problem with characterization. I was trying to see Marco just at the moment after his mom's death – I mean, sure his motto is laugh at the world, but I thought maybe right after his mom dying for the third time, he'd have a little breakdown. So I made him have one. He's still mad at me for it. J/k. ::smiles:: Anyway, here's some more Maya!

**East Coast Ryder – **Don't worry about the interrelation – I do this because I'm been imagining about Maya for the past two years or so. So it all comes out in this huge long story (see bio.) And Wraithlord gave me this great link to the definition of a beta – here, let my go find it. ::goes hunting in email archive:: Weird. I can't seem to find it. I was sure I had it. Well, my definition is someone who basically edits your stuff, figures out plot holes, makes sure you don't make grammar mistakes, stuff like that. WRAITHLORD, if you're reading this, do you think you could put the link up again? Thanks!

**Eyes of smoke – **Glad you like this fic!

**Wottabout**** – **Yay! New reviewer! Glad you liked this fic – thanks for your nice review! Hopefully this chapter will be good, too!

**Winner – **Glad you like this fic! I'm sorry that I left it off for so long, but here it is!

**Kaz456 – **It's ok – I leave short reviews a lot too. It's been a while, though, so I hope you remember this fic!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

(Run,) I shouted at him, veering towards the left as he went to the right. I was desperately shredding my clothes and morphing the rags into my skin which caused me to slow down.

I couldn't allow the Yeerks to get any of my DNA, though.

(I _am_ running,) he said in his calm way and I would have smiled except...

(Got her!) I heard behind me, a crow of triumph as the stun gun's warm beam locked in on me. Desperately I ran faster, but the sensor had locked in on my DNA and I could do nothing.

Except lead them away from Aximili, who held information in his mind that couldn't fall into the allegorical hands of the Yeerks.

_English class is getting to me,_ I thought almost giddily just before Rosa fired.

----------------

"Get up."

I struggled to my feet, bars looming up before my eyes - stalk eyes, too, thankfully.

The bars glittered, light shining off their carefully molded curves.

_Diamond,_ my mind whispered. But why?

"We have new bars," the same voice said. "Harder and stronger than the steel we use currently. Even shredder fire can't free you."

I said nothing, hoping to fool the voice into thinking I couldn't speak.

"Well?"

I closed my eyes, and concentrated on the greed in that voice, the lust for power, the raw arrogance that was there. _Not Marco's voice,_ I reminded myself. _Not Marco's voice_.

"Answer me."

I looked up at her with quizzical eyes, and then held a multi-fingered hand to my head, pressing lightly.

"Ah, something wrong with your head? I bet a bit of -"

"Excuse me?" another voice said, except it was the _same _voice.

My stalk eyes flew open to see two identical Rosa's staring at each other.

"Ah, well, you can go now," the first Rosa said.

"_Excuse me?_" the second one said, raising her eyebrows incredulously. "And who are you to tell me so?"

The first one glared, and drew in a breath as if to shout, but quickly checked herself. "Come with me."

"Who are you," the second Rosa shouted, "And why did you take my form? And _how _did you take my form?"

Whoa. This was getting rapidly weirder with each passing second.

"Sub-visser 34," Rosa 1 snapped, "Keep your mouth shut!"

I looked at the both of them, and then pulled myself into a mental state in which I could observe, in which I could detach myself and analyze what was going on around me.

_Two Rosas. Both with bad temperaments._

_One is a sub-visser, though. And the other is of higher rank, to talk to a sub-visser like that._

_Higher rank of sub-visser… ability to take another form…_

_Papai._

The roar of a tiger interrupted my thoughts, my analysis, and my shock as I for one brief moment wondered _why_, why did Visser 3 morph Rosa without letting her know?

(Maya! Get down! I'm going to push this button on this machine thing and see what happens, and it's aimed towards you!)

Marco's thought-voice filled my mind as I threw myself awkwardly onto my side, wishing that I was in my much more flexible and pliable human body.

(Marco, you idiot!) Rachel shouted. (You're just going to push random buttons and hope nothing blows up?)

(Why are _you _complaining? I always thought you weren't too unhappy with big booms.) Marco quipped back.

I began morphing to Komodo dragon while still on my side, dazed at this turn of events, madly curious as to _how _this was happening when an extended plane of light shot out cutting into the diamond cage right above my prostrate body.

I lifted my head and saw with my weakened sight that the bars had turned into… _rubber?_

(Yeah, and that would be rubber. Let's see what this button does.)

Another plane of light shot out, and when I looked up the bars where now graphite.

I kept my head down when Marco announced his desire to push _another _button, and then lifted my head to almost choke on carbon gas.

I was getting an idea of what this machine was, and so told Marco, (Don't push any more buttons, I can get out now.)

I stumbled over the bottom of the bars that hadn't been converted, and then ran across to where one of the Rosa's was demorphing rapidly into Visser 3.

(How did you guys get here, anyway?) I wondered aloud as I jumped into the fray.

(The dolphins showed us,) someone answered simply.

(What _was_ that thing?) Marco asked me as I side-stepped a Hork-Bajir that had poured into the building.

(Probably a machine that can change the structure of the carbon molecules,) I said, fairly confident that my guess was right. (I mean, diamond and carbon gas and rubber are all made of carbon, they're just made up differently.)

(Ah.)

I whipped over to where Alloran's body was forming and jumped, claws extended, raking down his side.

(AHHHHH!) He cried, and so I tried it again.

A well-aimed dracon beam hit me squarely in the side and the back half of me sizzled into nothingness. I used my Nadarcontrol to pull myself to the side where I demorphed into Elemaki.

I turned and faced Alloran. Visser 3.

He was staring at me with both stalk-eyes, ignoring the chaos around him, and for a moment I felt trapped by the obvious searching in his eyes.

Visser 3, I reminded myself.

I made as if to take my tail blade and swipe him over the head, but at the last second I used a trick Aximili had taught me and brought my tail in between his two front legs.

He did nothing to block my incoming strike, but his words froze me.

(Saranai?)

My tail blade faltered as it slowed down, taking light-years to move through air that had suddenly turned into tar at his question.

(No… not Saranai… you're too young… perhaps my host's first wife had a daughter?)

Host.

That word shook me out of my daze and I continued my strike. Visser 3 used his much bigger body and obviously better tactics to block me, and then we continued.

(You wouldn't kill your father,) he sneered, guessing through my silence.

(I would,) I stated flatly, hoping for anything to throw him off balance.

Then…

I took a quick glance around the room and saw that we were hopelessly outnumbered – _again._ Keeping my main eyes focused on Visser 3's face, I began formulating a plan, something that would shock them into stopping…

I stopped fighting the Visser and let my tail down.

(I am a Nadar,) I told him.

This time it was _his_ tail that faltered, _his _tail that hung limply in the air. The Hork-Bajir around us stopped as they stared at me, at a sentient who would dare declare herself as a fighter that would fight for the sake of blood.

I was not what you could call a nice person.

I swung my tail in a perfect arc, using all the skill and tricks that Aximili had taught me, using all my Nadarcontrol and concentration. It flew up and over striking Visser 3 directly in the side, tearing into his innards, ripping out his skin and causing his blood to flow.

(RUN!) Jake shouted from somewhere and I galloped out of there, hoping that my strike had been fatal.

The seven of us rushed out of the room only to be confronted with lush vegetation at every angle. (Where do we go?) I wondered, and Marco answered, (Follow me,) beckoning with his leathery, black hand.

The rest of them scattered and I assumed they had already worked out a plan for getting out of there when we suddenly ran into a contingent led by Rosa – the _real _Rosa I assumed.

(Whoa!) Marco said. (She looks like me! That's _scary!_)

There was no Rachel around to say that he was already scary-looking and I wasn't interested in banter so I simply turned around and fled. Marco followed me, lumbering in true gorilla style as we made our way up a slanted slope.

Gallop, gallop, lumber, lumber. The trees were getting in my way so I began morphing into my human form, ignoring Marco's, (Are you insane?)

(You should demorph, too,) I said. (We'll get through the forest a lot more quickly. The Hork-Bajir aren't going to have the patience to work through all this mess – they'll just start hacking the trees which will slow them down a lot.)

I spoke dully, my mind still back in the room where I had attacked my father – Visser 3 – with relish, my mind still replaying my tail swinging through the air to cut into –

We broke through the trees, panting, only to find ourselves at the edge of a cliff.

I turned towards Marco, who was in human form, who looked absolutely petrified.

He swore. I glared at him, but controlled myself from launching into a lecture about self-control and how swearing wasn't going to alleviate anything but that would have been a waste of time and at least _I _had self-control.

I looked out over the still blue water and then grinned back at Marco.

"Oh, no," he said, shaking his head. "Oh, no, you don't."

"It's either jump off or become a Controller," I told him complacently. "Your choice. Thirty seconds before they get up here, so decide quickly."

Marco looked over the cliff, and then back over his shoulder where the sounds of rapidly approaching Hork-Bajir could clearly be heard.

"Twenty-five seconds."

"How long will it take to jump?" he asked.

"Ten seconds. And we have twenty seconds left. Nineteen…"

Marco grabbed my hand and we stood over the edge and as I counted "Sixteen, fifteen, fourteen," we dove.

The wind whistled passed my ears as I bent my arms into a arrow-like form, as I encouraged Marco to do the same over the wind, as he screamed, as Tobias asked from the sky somewhere, (Are you _insane?) _as Marco shouted, "That's _my _line!" and as we hit the surface of the water, more or less gently.

_Five, four, three…_ I counted silently as we dug our fingers eagerly into the dark water, going deeper and deeper. We both began morphing to dolphin, careful to stay underwater, careful to get out of there as fast as our tails could take us.

(You guys alive?) Tobias asked cautiously.

(Barely,) griped Marco. (And I'm _never _doing that again.)

(Maya,) Tobias asked, even more tentatively. (You okay?)

(They didn't torture me,) I said shortly, answering his real question and then mentally smiling when I sensed a sudden surprise coming from him.

_I'm a Nadar, Tobias, _I said silently. _I know what you really mean. I can tell what you are going to say before you even think of it. That's what it means to be a Nadar. Absolutely knowledgeable, and absolutely miserable._

(The others morphed to seagulls and are waiting on the beach,) Tobias announced.

(Don't get your feathers all ruffled up,) Marco answered. (We'll be there, Bird-boy.)

**Review Responses**

No, I haven't died.

BTW, Nadarcontrol is my new word for Control. I changed it. Yeah. I do things like that.

I don't know when my next chapter is going to go up, but PSATs are over (_finally) _so I should have more time. Should. My teachers might disagree with me, though.__

**Eyes of Forest – **So Rachel should never die? Okay. And your pokings have worked. Kind of. At least I'm updating! ::cringes::

**Flame-of-Life – **Thanks for pointing out the typo! I do have problems with that. Right now I don't really have time to send anything to a beta, so sorry! Once summer comes, hopefully I'll have more time, but I'll be sending it to Wraithlord because he was doing it first. Thanks for your offer, though, and thanks for the cookie and muffin! ::munches::

**Wraithlord**** – **I have a random question. What is w00t? My friends use that kind of "language" sometimes but I never figured it out. And it's actually kind of interesting what you pointed out about my inserting faith-based themes into my writing. The Shrink was my most popular story – I got more review per chapter on that fic than any other I had ever written. And I'm sorry if I come across as trying to impose a viewpoint, but with writing, I mean, it's a choice people make. Although I would miss your input a lot if you chose not to read, I can understand that choice. I don't read certain fics because I feel that they impose their viewpoint on the reader, but I do understand that that writer is going to write the way they believe. It's also that I do feel pressure a lot to stay silent about my beliefs – for example, at school, I put up Bible verses on my locker that get ripped down by other students. Anyway, I mostly interweave hidden themes – The Shrink was exceptionally focused on believers, but the others are more subtle. And thanks for the offer to Britpick your character – I think I'm going to give you a lot of flexibility with him – in other words, I'm not going to try and make him act in a certain way at all. I'll send it to you and have you do it, because I'll probably end up messing up. My aunt is British, but she's only one person, so… you get the point.

**Birdie num num **– Alloran found out about Maya in this chapter, obviously, but we didn't get his reaction. (Mostly because I haven't thought up a good reaction yet.) And sorry for not updating in so long… I've been busy… ::flails hopelessly for an excuse::

**A-cat - **::hides because she hasn't updated in such a long time:: I showed some more of Maya's ability to tell what people are thinking – you're right, I hadn't been really showing that too well. And thanks about the advice for Rachel. I'm not letting on what I'm going to do, but here's a packet of cheese! ::grins evilly:: I think I have to award you as the person who get the most cheese. Because you definitely do.

**Tabatha**** – **Here's another chapter! Hopefully this chappie explained some more stuff. And your character is coming along fine. Sometimes I'll stop and imagine the next fifty years in the story before shaking myself and going back to – ugh – work.

**Toby - **::gets off the ground:: Here's your next chapter! Thanks for all the encouragement… but… ::hides because it's been a month:: Yeah. Tests are evil. But still, here it is!

**DH – **Ax more logical, okay. He really wasn't in this chapter that much – I don't think any of them were, really. And the other things you mentioned are actually plot holes… sorry… I've been getting really sloppy with my writing, and I know this chapter has plot holes that I need to fill. ::gets out needle and thread in an attempt to patch the holes:: Don't worry, when I get out of the Animorphy section it'll get much better. I keep promising that, don't I? And glad you liked the shaven dog – I liked it too!

**Lady of Romantic Dreams – **I'm really really sorry I haven't gotten back to you through email, but as you can probably see from my updating pace… okay, I'm just making excuses. And no, no soap operas. I actually _really _don't like soap operas. No plot. Just like chick flicks. And here's the update, not really soon… but it's here!

**Rachel9466 – **You vote a? I'm flattered. I don't know how many ways there are to raise someone from the dead, though, so I think I'd be going for the more clichéd way. And it's okay about fp – I haven't updated in a _while_ and it's going to take even longer, so you can take your time. Thanks for the review!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

"So, what happened, again?"

Erek sighed, and then launched into what had to be his fiftieth explanation, due to Marco's inability to pay attention to more than half of his talking at a time.

"The Visser wanted the glory," the Chee said, carefully and slowly, and with just a hint of sarcasm. "Okay, Marky? Get that? Not to difficult to understand, is it?"

"Shut up," Marco replied good-naturedly, while Rachel snorted and told him to stop being such an idiot.

I rolled my eyes as Erek continued to explain that Rosa's Yeerk was going to be promoted if she managed to get anything out of me, and the Visser couldn't risk such an ambitious Yeerk to succeed so well. So consequently, he morphed her.

"But how did they know that Ax and Maya were going to be at the scoop?" Cassie asked, her brow furrowing.

The others turned towards Aximili and me, and I shrugged, voicing, "I have no clue."

We all turned to Erek.

"Probably they just happened to stumble in on you two," he said, which was reasonable enough. "I mean, I'm not sure exactly what precautions you were taking, but two aliens fighting in the woods are bound to attract some attention."

I think Aximili looked embarrassed. (Tobias was out hunting, and I did not think to take extra care…)

"It's okay," Jake told him, standing up straight. I waited, knowing that something was coming my way…

"Maya," he said.

"Uh."

"What's a Nadar?"

"And why have you been hiding the fact that you were the Visser's freaking daughter for the PAST TWO YEARS!"

We all turned towards Cassie in shock.

She was glaring at me, her brown eyes flashing, one hand on her hip, the other out, demanding an answer.

I had none.

For the first time in my life, I was rendered speechless.

"Ah," I managed. I swallowed, and then tried again. "Ah…"

"Well?" she snapped. I looked curiously at her, wondering how in the world this change had come across her. Oh, there were the creases, the bags under her eyes, the guilt in her eyes and not… not what?

Not figuring it out. Not knowing what my problem was.

Not helping me

"It's okay, Cassie," I said. "_I _had to deal with it. It's _my _problem."

Her face was softening already, her eyes showing the care that always came through.

"But it _is _my problem," she whispered. "That's my job."

"I think I'll leave you, right now," Erek said, and I watched as the android walked out of the barn.

All of us stayed silent, listening to the truth behind her words.

And wondering what our jobs were.

Jake's was easy to figure out. The leader.

And Rachel's? The warrior.

Except, that was my job, too, wasn't it? Or was it only mine because of my bloodlust?

Marco. To keep us from despair.

Aximili. Our connection to the Andalites. Our sense of honor and duty.

And me…

"What's my job?" I asked aloud, horrified at how my voice cracked. "What is it?"

_You're here for something greater. Something I have planned for you. This time with the Animorphs – it's only a step. A stepping stone across a river. You'll have to swim sometimes, though. You won't always have support. But somewhere along the river, there will be stepping stones to rest on._

_It'll be hard, very hard, to get across the river. Sometimes you'll feel like giving up. Sometimes you'll try and drown. But you'll make it. And what waits you on the other side will be far more precious to you after your journey – after all, the labor makes the reward even greater._

I didn't hear that voice. I didn't want to. I didn't acknowledge it, until much later.

"Your job, right now," Jake said firmly, "Is to tell us everything you know."

I nodded. "Okay. I can do that."

"My story really begins with my mother," I said, blanking myself. I couldn't feel. Couldn't.

_Maya's mother is an Elemaki. A female. A member of a despised race. She runs into an Andalite aristh one night, and they marry and mate. She is abandoned by him – after all, she is only an Elemaki – but carries twins to birth. Three years after their births, she dies in a fire set by an Andalite soldier._

_The twins live on. One of them is named Mayanamar. She loses her stalk-eyes in the fire, her brother loses his tail. Mayanamar later becomes Maya, the Nadar, but she doesn't know that yet. All she knows is that her brother will take care of her always, because he is a male._

_But then her brother is killed. She's alone again. She is an Elemaki. A female. A member of a despised race._

_But not all Andalites despise Elemaki. Mayanamar – who will later become Maya, the Nadar – is taken care of by an Andalite Nadar named Solethi. She learns what a Nadar is. She learns that Solethi is addicted to war and fighting and blood. She also learns that if he hadn't been drafted into the army, he would never have gotten into this condition._

_Mayanamar is sent to the Island. She meets a friend, Saraswati. But the Andalites come and take Mayanamar away. She is alone again. She meets an almost-Andalite named Kyrani who is very beautiful and sick of being raped. _All males are horny rapists. _Kyrani gives Mayanamar the drive to escape._

_Oh, I forgot to tell you that the Ellimist meets Mayanamar after her brother dies. He promises to make her into a five-year-old human._

_Mayanamar is back in the factory. Back with Kyrani. Back with the desire to escape. The Ellimist throws her into a time loop that takes her somewhen. A human creature gives her a morphing ring that allows her to stay in a morph for more than two hours at a time. Isn't that convenient?_

_But now the Andalites will be suspicious because she has her stalk-eyes back. So she goes to scouts and escapes on a ship by acting as their slave. She organizes the DNA samples they bring back and acquires them. (She uses the morphing power, now.)_

_The scouts shove her into an escape pod to die. She goes through a Sario Rip and lands on Earth twenty-six years in the future._

_Guess where she lands? In North Korea._

_In North Korea she meets Eun-hee, a five-year-old Korean girl. Mayanamar morphs her. _You can expect the Ellimist to keep his promises. _In North Korea, Mayanamar is named Mah-yah. Mah-yah learns to starve. Eun-hee learns with her. They both learn how to be slaves in a slave labor camp, but Mah-yah already had practice there._

_Maybe that's why Mah-yah survives, but Eun-hee learns to die. A boy who went with them when they escape the camp learns to die, too._

_And Mah-yah learns how to be a Nadar._

_A pearl fisher. Mah-yah learns how to be a slave again. And how to swim. She meets children who were kidnapped. She meets As-gah, who she names after her twin brother. She has learned by now that the only reason Osgaron protected her was because she let him. It does not matter that she is not a male, anymore – she learns to protect herself._

_She learns that she can't depend on others for her own survival. _A Nadar may only trust a Nadar. _Mah-yah learns how a drunken pearl fisher can toss children out into the seas and watch them drown. Mah-yah sees a drunken pearl fisher sell off the children._

_Mah-yah tells As-gah to kill the pearl fisher just before she is sold to pirates. (Not the ones with sails and tattoos who always marry beautiful women and somehow remain romanticized even while the burn, rape, pillage and murder. Even _those _actions are romanticized.)_

_As-gah learns how to be a Nadar. His five-year-old hands, eager for the approval of Mah-yah, the Nadar, take a razor blade and very neatly slice it across the pearl fisher's throat. (As-gah is a very neat boy.) He watches as the blood spills, and is fascinated by how alluring the bright the red is. He touches it as it pulses out with the pearl fisher's last breathes, and is captured._

_As-gah learns how to be a slave to being a Nadar. Mah-yah already learned. She taught him how._

_Mah-yah kills the pirates. Burns them up. Tries to drown. Dolphins find her. She becomes a dolphin for a year._

_But she's still a Nadar. _A Nadar lives to fight and fights to die.__

_She goes to California. Creates a gang of children. Learns how to starve some more. Learns how to steal food. (Hey, at least there _is _food in America. There wasn't anything _to _steal in North Korea.) Learns how to freeze._

_She meets As-gah in California, who is now Oscar. Mah-yah becomes Maya. Except she doesn't know yet whether it's spelled with an 'i' or with a 'y'. But she doesn't care. She cares about her children, because she knows there is something good and wholesome about families. Something good about love._

_But she doesn't have time to find it. Because Anna, a beautiful girl on the street who became a whore to survive is raped to death. _To be beautiful on the street is a death wish. _Maya loses it – again – and in her pursuit for revenge creates more Nadar. A bad move. The world doesn't need more murderers driven on by hate._

_But Maya doesn't think. She thinks she's in control of everything. She accepts the fact that some of the kids are Nadar. (After all, she was too busy trying to get revenge that she forgot about the kids.) But, it's all good anyway because Maya and Oscar get adopted by a middle-class couple. They are good to them._

_Maya goes to school. She meets bullies. For the first time in her life, she beats them up. _You eliminate the deadly, you disable the dangerous, you watch the possibly dangerous and you ignore the annoying. _She gets high on beating them up. (She thinks that because they are bullies, her actions are justified.)_

_Then, she gets tortured by the Yeerks. (She learns that there are Yeerks on Earth from a boy, named J.P. who she finds on the street. He teaches her how to kill with one blow.) _You must always kill your opponent with your first blow.

_Maya gets over it. But then the father dies, protecting an unknown girl named Becky Coles from a horny rapist._

Death follows a Nadar. _Maya gets over it. She gets over everything, eventually. After all, it's just life, and life isn't that precious to Maya. It's so easy to take away – why would it be precious? (She forgets that maybe that's the reason why it's precious. That it's so easy to take away.) Maya is very forgetful. Or maybe she is just blind, and acts like she has everything under control. Or maybe_

_Maya doesn't every question herself anymore. It would destroy who she was. And she is a Nadar._

_Maya finds the Animorphs through the computer. Maya remembers vowing to Eun-hee and Anna who both learned to die that Maya would protect Earth. That she would fight to protect Earth._

_So she goes and joins the Animorphs. She doesn't want to, because she doesn't really care about Earth. But she decides she might as well since her mother doesn't like it when Maya fights at school. And Maya needs a fight – after all, she's a Nadar – she's addicted. _Once a Nadar, always a Nadar.

_(Maya's Earthling mother knows something about Maya that she isn't telling Maya. Maya knows it too, but Maya doesn't care. That's one way to hide. Maya tends to choose the bloody way, though – she hides in blood. It covers you up very nicely, and in the end, you can't tell what you really are. And that's the way Maya likes it.)_

_She can't tell what she is. And what is she?_

_She can't really tell what a Nadar is. And she doesn't really want to tell. Do you know why? Because that way, she can continue to be what she is without knowing what it is._

_Nobody would want to be a Nadar if they knew what a Nadar really was._

_But they don't know. They don't know._

_And that's why they are Nadar._

**Review Responses**

This chapter is kind of weird. Tell me if you don't understand it. I'm kind of tired right now, so it might not make much sense.

I got it up sooner this time… yay? And I need to stop summarizing. Well, also, I wanted to experiment with this type of writing. Present tense, 3rd person, unconventional style. Tell me how I did.

**Pringle – **Yeah. We've had this conversation like sixty times already. I've had it with Sha-sha at least a million times. ::grins sleepily::

**Ladies – **Yeah, I just learned about the different structures in Chem class, so I popped that in there. And I'm really sorry about your email ::looks for an excuse and can't find one:: And they'll get in more trouble, don't worry. ::grins::

**Flame – **Thanks about the w00t thing. And for the cookie. ::munches:: I pretty much fixed whatever plot holes there were with Erek, which was a cheap way to get out of it, I admit, but I needed _something. _So, sorry about that.

**Tabatha**** – **I hope my PSATs went well, too! prays And it's okay – it's going to take me a while to update, too. I _do _plan to keep going with Rosa, so stay tuned!

**H-F-N – **Sorry… I don't think you reviewed Chapter 3, and I responded to Chapter 3 reviews, so… sorry…

**A-cat – **I hope this chapter answers your questions. And I kind of had it the voice thing – Nadar instinct works, though. The thing about him being surprised about Maya being a Nadar – she tried to _kill _her father. (See DH's review.) And my next book is actually getting cut out because I want to move on to the later fics in this series. And yeah, you do get a lot of cheese. I attribute it to some prophetic nature, or maybe you just know how I think. ::grins::

**Eyes of Forest – **I'm glad you like L. Emmist. He's amazing. And _definitely _tell me when my people are out of character. I have major issues with keeping them in character, so my readers _should _tell me so I can improve. ::tries feebly to fend off poking::

**Toby – **That's a really interesting idea. Since I'm venturing outside the realm of just 1st person, I might be able to do that. Esplin… we'll see about him. And Maya will tell the truth – just next chapter. Maya and Alloran are going to have a lot of patching up to do… ::grins::

**DH – **Here's another Return of Korean Pearl… ::smiles sheepishly:: And you are truly your character. I have your character, Leonora, discover a way to use nanotubes so that… well, I won't give it away. ::grins evilly:: And as we can see from that long delve into the 3rd person, that Maya isn't quite the person she thinks she is. The self-control thing, yeah. It would have caused a bigger problem if she said it, so that's _something._ And oh no no no. I mean leave the Animorphy books and move onto past 54. (Cause that's how everything is dated now. Before book 54 and after book 54.) ::smiles::

I am so incredibly tired. Forgive me if there are typos.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

"Oh, Maya," Cassie whispered. "That's horrible."

I conceded.

"Wait a second - you're a Nadar which means you're a bloodthirsty killer because... why, again?"

I turned towards Marco, mouth open to explain, and then stopped. Why was I this way, again?

"I'm actually not sure," I admitted. He faked gasped, and Rachel smacked him. "I mean, I know 3rd gen Nadar have this genetic thing... it's dormant, latent."

"Which means?"

I rolled my eyes. "It means that the 3rd gen Nadar don't get addicted to war until after their first fight with blood. That's you, Rach."

"Huh?" Rachel said, her blue eyes opening wide uncharacteristically. _"What?"_

"Slow down, Maya," Jake ordered, shaking himself out of his reverie. "And please, next time you have a secret like this, tell it to us, okay? We need to work as a group."

I stared at him, at all of them. Weren't they shocked by my bloodlust? Weren't they horrified?

Tobias ruffled his wings. (You're life really sucked,) he commented.

Aximili shrugged his shoulders, a gesture that I found odd on an Andalite, yet at the same time becoming. (Our lives have been very bloody, as well,) he reminded Tobias.

"So, that's 3rd gen. 2nd gen is just apathy, and 1st gen... that's you. So, _why_?"

My lifestyle, I began to explain. The way society was on the Andalite Home World. It all naturally guided me to becoming a Nadar. It wasn't my fault at all...

"Because I chose to," I said simply.

"Why in the world would you _choose _to be a Nadar?" Marco asked skeptically, and this time Rachel answered him, seriously, for once.

"You get this... rush, almost," she explained, her blue eyes clear. "Like, you almost get high off of it. High off of the pain, the blood, the screams..."

Her voice held bitterness that surprised all of us, I think, including me. I hadn't known very many 3rd gen Nadar, but I knew what she meant.

"The power," I echoed.

"So you can choose to go back, right?" asked Cassie softly, looking into my eyes.

I can choose to go back...

Go back...

Back...

"To what?" I said harshly. "Go back to what? Back to being a wimp?"

Up above I saw Tobias shift uncomfortably on his perch, but continued on. "I chose this life, yes, I admit that now. One thing I've noticed about Earthers is that they blame anybody and everybody but themselves. Everything is due to one's genetics, or due to one's circumstances, but never to one's attitude. But being a Nadar saved me. I've outlived everybody close to me, because they weren't Nadar. They weren't survivors."

The words continued to spill out of my mouth, unchecked. Was I defending my lifestyle? My slaughter of sentients?

(What did being a Nadar save you from?) asked Tobias suddenly.

"It saved me from death, obviously," I answered.

(I mean, what did it save you _for_?)

I opened my mouth to snap at him, to accuse him of wanting me to go back to my Elemaki self where I depended on everybody and never on myself (_but what about when you attacked that Andalite who was beating up Osgaron?) _but his words stopped me. What did I save my life for?

What was it for?

I had killed to retain this life within this body, and had become a Nadar to do so. But was it worth it? Was my life worth all those lives that I had just bitterly denounced?

Did I have to become a killer to survive... or could I have been like Eun-hee and Anna?

But they died, I reminded myself harshly. And I'm alive. Only now I'm wondering if it's worth it, being alive.

Whatever it was, it was my _choice_. I would refuse to blame the circumstances that I had been in, or genetics. It was my burden to bear, and I would pay for it.

"Tobias," Jake admonished. "C'mon, she's had a hard life. We've all been through tough times. We'll let it go. Just... Maya, is there anything else you want to tell us?"

"Yes," I said, pushing my thoughts away. "Marco has a twin sister named Rosa, and she's a Controller - that one girl who looked a lot like you."

For a moment there were no sounds except for the rustling of the hay as one of the horses in the stall bent over to eat some.

"I just found out, like, now, so don't you all start yelling at me," I said, somewhat sarcastically. "I'm guessing the game plan is to rescue her?"

"You're not... lying, or joking or anything?" Marco whispered.

I waited for Rachel to make a snide comment, but even she appeared stunned. Why in the world did this affect them more than my being a Nadar?

"How do you know?" asked Jake, also quietly, and so I told them my mother's story.

(This is extremely disturbing, Prince Jake,) Aximili said as soon as I was done. (The fact that Yeerks intended to perform experiments on human twins...)

Would it be better if they were Elemaki twins? I sneered at him silently for a moment, and then turned towards Jake. "So, rescue."

Jake started to shake his head, and then stopped, looking over at Marco who looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

"We could rescue Tom, too," I offered lamely and then almost recoiled when Jake turned on me in obvious anger.

"Don't you _dare _suggest that," he hissed, his face growing red. "Don't you even dare _think_ about suggesting that."

"Jake," Cassie said reprovingly, and I looked at him. Yes, _Jake_.

(I think we all need to cool down,) Tobias thought-muttered. (Yeah, that's a _great _idea,) I thought, and then glared at Rachel who was glaring at me.

(Prince Jake, I suggest that we all adjourn the meeting and come back in a few hours,) Aximili said stuffily. (It appears that there are some of us who cannot control our tempers.)

Nadarcontrol, Maya. Remember. Nadarcontrol.

I practiced what I preached, (for once) and held my tongue as Cassie looked with worry at us seething with anger.

"I have to go," Marco said simply, and walked out of the barn door. The others began packing their bags up, Rachel striding out with confident steps, Aximili and Tobias following her. Cassie gave Jake and me a glance, and then followed the others.

We were left standing there, both determined to win our silent contest.

He broke the silence first. After all, I had all the time in the world. This wasn't my fight.

"Sorry," he said gruffly. "Just, my brother... I don't really want to talk about it."

"Then don't get mad at me," I told him. "I'm not Cassie, I don't want to have a share-your-feelings routine where I play shrink and doctor your mental problems of which you have your fair share. If you want to hate me, that's fine, but it's your fight, your team."

Jake smiled ruefully, that smile that charmed so many girls in our school. I didn't even need to fight it though - I knew that behind the slow smile there was a commander-in-chief, a leader ready to sacrifice lives to gain the victory.

I also knew that Jake had, time and time again, sacrificed the chance to rescue his brother.

"If we rescue Marco's sister - Rosa? - now," Jake said slowly, "Marco is going to view it as 'Oh, I pity you, so I'm going to rescue your sister but not my brother.' You shouldn't have brought Tom up."

I opened my mouth, ready to fight, and then closed it. Why did I always have to be so right?

"It's not that hard to rescue Tom," I said, just as slowly, noticing that Jake was controlling himself. _He'd be good for you, Cassie._ "I could knock him out, take him to the valley."

Jake refused to give himself any hope. "And if you don't succeed? It's too risky. I'm not even sure if we should rescue Rosa, not unless it gives us a direct advantage."

"It might though," I said, dropping Tom for now. In later years I would be glad that I had. "The Yeerks are building something on that island - I'm fairly positive that they don't have it just for a possible prison. They're doing something there, and having someone like Rosa would help us figure it out. Spying isn't going to work very well, since the Controllers are now shooting at any and all animals."

Jake's shoulders sagged, and for a moment I saw his deep, dark eyes, filled with weariness. How many days, until this was all over? How many months until he could be a child again?

Never, I told his eyes. Once war has touched you, once fighting has caressed you, you'll never be free of its clutches again.

"But three days... can we afford to wait that long?"

"We can get her right before a feeding," I told him. "And I can get that information by hacking into a computer."

"And on a side note," I added, "Jake, why don't you do some of this with us in the group?"

"Huh?"

"Like, why don't you ask us in the group what should happen instead of making the decision on your own and killing yourself over the consequences?"

"Normally I do," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "But sometimes it's too close to the people here... I can't think straight when people are looking at me, expecting me to come up with a marvelous plan to get everyone free from the Yeerks."

The tiniest bit of bitterness flowed out easily through his lips, and I gave a smile. "But you have no problem like that around me?"

Jake looked up, also smiling. "Nah. You have no faith in me whatsoever, so I feel fine to be an idiot around you."

We shared a laugh, a small bubble of mirth that was born of irony and tainted with sarcasm.

"Like that idiot who jumped off a bridge in front of a subway to commit suicide and then sued the subway station when it didn't kill him but only hurt him?" I suggested, hoping to loosen him.

"Yeah, or that robber who was going to break into that one family's home - he slipped on the roof and broke his leg and so sued the family."

I shook my head. "And that stupid, stupid teenager who stole a credit card, bought a frozen turkey (don't ask me why), chucked it out a car window and hit a driver? And of course it's a guy - guys always have to feel like they have to prove their testosterone."

Jake burst out laughing. "That's horrible, but still... man, people are really idiots."

"I think it should be illegal to be dumb," I offered. "I mean, you can't get arrested for being terminally idiotic, but there should at least be punishment for that kind of thing."

"Like that basket brawl?" Jake asked with a smile. I nodded, laughing gently, laughing at what idiots humans were, and Elemaki and Andalites too - oh, we were so dumb.

"You don't have to do this alone," I said more seriously, when we were done laughing. "I know that stakes are high and we all have a personal stake in this, but I'm pretty much home free. I promised my mom that I would make sure she never was a Controller again, and she might be moving to the valley sometime soon if the invasion gets too tense. We don't have as many kids right now - I actually think it'll just be the adopted kids pretty soon, because a lot of parents are coming around to pick up their foster children."

Jake nodded, his eyes serious again. "Okay. Now, plan-wise."

"I'll check out her feeding schedule," I said. "Obviously it won't be posted for everyone to see, but they do post when major feeding cycles occur, and I'm assuming she's on the island. Also, if you like, I can ask the dolphins if they saw anything new."

Jake shook his head. "Asking dolphins... I'm still weirded out by that, but hey, anything that helps, works. And then, after you get her feeding schedule... do you think flight or fight?"

"I'd say flight, because there is a good number of Hork Bajir there," I said earnestly.

"Okay," he said. "Rachel can distract people with her elephant morph on the other side of the island - elephants can swim, so she'll be alright, and I'll have Tobias watch her back. Then... maybe you, Marco, and Ax go into the feeding area and get Rosa and I'll be with Cassie, wreaking havoc wherever. Oh, we can pretend that our real objective for this attack is not the rescue, but Cassie and me going after... hmm... What should we go after?"

"Information," I offered. "But then you'd need Aximili for that."

Jake nodded. "Alright. Ax'll go with Cassie and me."

I looked at him, and decided that he was alright. _You'll do, Jake. You'll do._

**Review Responses**

Courtesy to my U.S. A.P History teacher for that conversation about the dumb people and the testosterone.

**Wraithlord42 **- Sorry about the diamond part... I was mixing in stuff I learned about Chem class, and I really really wanted to put that in. And thanks about the w00t - I'm using more and more symbols like :D that I hope will show up.  
::laughs:: Oh, Wraithlord. You're so cynical. "introduction of adult themes" ::smiles::  
And thanks... but I will keep inserting spiritual themes at times, mostly because I truly believe these things. This link (without the spaces) explains some more www. usnews . com /usnews/ issue/ 041129/opinion/29 (underscore here) john. htm And oh yeah, I'm definitely depending on you for your character. ::grins::

**Toby - **I didn't have any action in this chapter... all blabbing. ::hides:: I do hope to have the conflict maybe next chapter, along with the possible rescue. And thanks so much! I'm really glad you like my writing - honestly, it means so much to me, especially when I'm so bogged down by school. --  
For this chapter, I'm mostly having almost a third person, a narrator (maybe me in fact, I'm having ideas to include that kind of thing...) Anyway, glad you liked it! I was actually celebrating about your thinking Maya was seeming babyish - yay! I was getting the feeling that people were sympathizing with Maya. So I was trying to kind of show the truth behind Maya. Not, just the whole "I'm a cool assassin" thing. ::grins::

**DH **- _"It was almost like by Maya explaining things in the third person she was taking away her responsibility for her actions. (like if she kept saying "Maya did this" and "Maya did that' she didn't have to admit that "she as the person did this" and she "as the person did that""_  
That's like almost exactly what I was trying to do. Yay! :D I hope this chapter is IC, but I was having difficulties with that. Tell me how I did, kay? Marco was rendered speechless by Maya telling people about his sister. And did you include Maya with Animorphs? Yay! Yay! Yay! :DLeonora is going to be fun. ::grins:: She's a major major character in Mayanites: Nadar and Kyan, and a minor one in Nadar Chronicles 3. She might change some, but hopefully she will be similar enough.

**Eyes of Forest - **Yup, flashbacks! And I'm sorry... it was more flashback than new stuff, but hopefully this chapter will be better. ::grins::

**A-cat **- Sorry about the repeats... in all honesty I just couldn't think up something, and I had to have _something _there. ::looks embarrased:: I guess I wanted to recap so I could reassess Maya's character and see where I was going with her. I don't _want _people to like her that much, and so I was kind of using that to show the true side of her. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter better!

**Tabatha**** - **Thanks! I'm glad you liked that chapter, and here's a future chapter. Not much action, but hopefully you'll like it. I will continue on, though. And definitely I know what school can do. It's Thanksgiving break, actually, which is why I'm writing! Anyway, see ya!

**H-F-N - **Would you? You'd like to be a character? Okay, just tell me some of the things you'd like to be, and I'll see if I have a spot for you.

**F-O-L **- ::takes muffin:: Thank you! Sorry I didn't update for such a long time, though... ::hides::

**Rachel9466 - **Oh, wow, thanks! I'm glad you like this story that much. Hopefully this chapter was good too. I'll be getting more action in later on. The voice- narrator like person (me) that will come in during Nadar Chronicles 3. (Yes, I have everything planned out already. )


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

(Go! Go!) I shouted at Marco. He lumbered past me and easily punched through a window.

(Calm down, Maya,) he told me. (It's not like anyone is paying attention to us. They're too busy trying to keep Jake, Cassie, and Ax from getting any info about this freaky place.)

I ignored him and reviewed Jake's plan. _Rachel can distract people with her elephant morph on the other side of the island… elephants can swim, so she'll be alright, and I'll have Tobias watch her back. Then… maybe you, Marco, and Ax go into the feeding area and get Rosa and I'll be with Cassie, wreaking havoc wherever._

I slithered through the broken window in my Komodo dragon morph and then launched my body forward, tearing my claws through air while Marco gave a gorilla roar behind me.

I sniffed the air but couldn't discern anything, so turned to Marco. (What's going on?)

He lifted his head. (No one's here,) he said, almost wonderingly. (No one.)

I controlled myself. (Let's go, then.)

(Where?) he asked.

Think, Maya, think. Where would they have gone?

The machine… the thing they're building…

(C'mon,) I said. (There's something bigger here than it seems. Let's go to the thing that they're building.)

Marco followed me willingly, and we raced along the green grass towards the towering, almost silo-like building.

I pounced on the nearest human and knocked her unconscious. (Marco, hold her down while I morph her.)

(We don't morph other humans,) he reminded me, and I paused for a moment.

(Okay,) I said, not wanting to waste time fighting about it. (Let's just go in and attack, then. Go ahead.)

(So, just attack?)

(Just go!) I shouted at him. (I'll watch your back.)

I watched him knuckle away, and then demorphed quickly, reaching a trembling hand out to barely touch the woman's hair. I acquired her, took her clothes, and morphed her, and then slit her throat with a knife she had on her person before dragging the body off into the bushes.

One thing I've noticed about stories about assassins, murderers and thieves… they're made into heroes. Somehow they're still good, somehow they've been forced into their lives… they're still "cool." They don't kill anybody but fat, ugly people who somehow deserve it.

They're wrong. All of them. Absolutely wrong. We kill anyone, and everyone. All if fair in love and war, you know. We're constantly at war with everyone, and our own sick twisted love for the people who dare to care about us… don't buy into their stories that we're still good, somehow. That being a murderer is cool, somehow.

I left her still bleeding and naked body and walked swiftly into the building.

I was disobeying Jake's orders, disobeying the unspoken Animorph code and knowing that someone would pay for it, and it might not be me.

ROAWWRRRR!!!!

Jake's tiger roar echoed through the building and I hurried to avoid him, knowing that he would probably see me as the enemy. I began running, taking corridors and all the time wondering what in the world this building could be for.

I turned the corner and ran smack dab into Rosa.

"Sub-Visser 34!" she scolded. "Where is the information that I asked for?"

Without giving her a chance to say anything more, I took a quick glance around to make sure we were alone, and then struck with a blow to her temple. The heavier body acted well, and I was able to knock her out. I scooped her up, and began running again.

A couple of Controllers glanced at me as I ran through the halls, and I said to their inquiring glances, "Andalite casualty." They nodded, understanding my lies.

(Well, hurry up!) I heard a voice shout, and recognized the Visser. I didn't kill him? Man.

"Visser, we need more time, more resources…" a voice answered nervously. "We have enough only to convert a few lakes… not the whole sea."

Enough _what? _I wondered.

(Where is that Sub-Visser?) he snapped, and I stepped into view, carrying Rosa.

"She was rendered unconscious by the Andalite bandits," I said smoothly with the woman's voice.

I seethed at my incompetence. Why hadn't he died before? I could try again…

But before I could do anything, he lifted his tail and put it against my throat.

(I know Sub-Visser 34,) he said, almost smirking. (And she would _not _care to take care of her superiors. She is a very ambitious Yeerk, and would be more than happy to get rid of a higher ranking Sub-Visser.)

"Visser," I said, hoping to fake my way out of this. "This Sub-Visser has made several threats against my life… warning me that if I did not take the time to rescue her from attacks… if she were to find out that I had left her…"

(And what is this Sub-Visser's ranking?)

"I never kept track," I lied, hoping that it would work. "I always hoped to supplant her, and knowing her rank did not… encourage me."

(You lie very well,) Visser said. (I suppose that you are the Nadar?)

Think, Maya, I commanded myself. I need to find a way out of this.

"Infest me," I offered. "In exchange for my life, I will become a voluntary Controller."

The Visser looked surprised. (What…)

I smiled sweetly. "I am a Nadar. I have no loyalties."

Which was actually true. For once.

(Then come,) he commanded, not removing his blade.

I walked forward, when Rosa moaned, and I looked down.

The Visser also looked at Rosa, and then said to her, (Your committee members tell me that more resources are needed.)

I said nothing.

"What happened?" she asked, almost innocently, and then with one swift brutal twist I threw her into the Visser and stepped backwards, away from the blade.

She screamed, and the Visser was startled just enough so that I could launch myself into a spinning hook kick, one that could kill a human if it weren't for that tail blade…

The blade came sweeping down, and I couldn't stop my kick, the blade went into my leg and I crumpled to the floor. I could feel the shadow of his tail over mine, when

CLANG.

(You are a fool, Maya,) Aximili informed me in private thought-speech.

Although it took all my pride to admit that an Andalite was right, I agreed with him. (Yes, I am.)

(Marco informed me that after you did not follow him, you had probably morphed the Controller. I went to find you, fairly certain that you were going to do something unwise.)

(ANDALITE!!) the Visser roared, obviously frustrated.

I could sense the other Animorphs gathering, and Jake's voice asking, (Are you okay, Maya?)

(Yeah,) I answered. (I'm just being stupid. I can hop, still, though. And Rosa's next to me, kind of dazed because I threw her at the Visser.)

He was quiet for a moment, as Aximili and the Visser strained for the advantage. (You know,) he finally said quietly, (Rachel works well with us because I put her in places where if she loses it, it won't be a big deal. But she stays in those places, she doesn't wander off.)

(Lecture me later, Jake,) I said, gritting my teeth from the pain of an amputated leg. (I was wrong, and I know it.)

(Distract him,) Marco said suddenly. (Distract the Visser. I've got an idea.)

Aximili and the Visser were still straining their tail blades over me, and with no natural weapons on this human body, I turned and bit the Visser's leg.

He reared, like a horse, and Aximili was able to bring the blade to cut the Visser. I grimly held on, grabbing his leg with my hands to keep a hold of him. Marco came rushing in with swinging gorilla fists, but I ignored them all, concentrated only on drawing blood. My teeth twisted but I held on, knowing that one thing that being a Nadar had taught me was to endure pain.

(Okay, everyone get out of here!) Jake shouted as soon as the Visser was stunned enough. (Flight, remember, there are a lot of Hork Bajir here!)

Marco scooped me and Rosa up, the girl still dazed. I could understand – you didn't recover right away from a concussion.

(Run, run!) Jake shouted, and I could barely make out Cassie keeping pace with Marco as he ran with both of us. Rachel was with Tobias, I remembered through my pain. Remember… remember…

The world became fuzzy, the moving colors of the walls blending in with Marco's gorilla fur, until each strand of fur became one with the fleeting gray of the walls and until I passed out, dazed from the loss of blood.

* * *

They told me later that the dolphins got us out.

* * *

I knelt in front of Rosa, her face contorting with pain as her Yeerk struggled with Kadrona starvation.

"Don't worry," I told the Yeerk. "It'll be over soon. You won't die."

She gave me an evil glare, which I ignored. I was getting good at ignoring things, lately.

"Jen," I whispered. The android was with me, and she glanced at me quizzically. "Let me have the Yeerk out of your ear," I told her.

She looked at me for a moment, and then shrugged. "Okay."

I took the Yeerk, and then told Jenny to watch Rosa for a moment, before walking upstairs, out of the basement, to our kitchen where there were knives.

After I finished up, I walked back downstairs and called Jenny.

(I'm going to pretend to drag a portable Kadrona out here, okay?) I said. (I need you to create a hologram of me doing that. Then untie Rosa and get the Yeerk to drop into the fake Kadrona. I'll get a bucket of water with nutrients ready for the Yeerk to really drop into. Then, when the Yeerk thinks it's done, put your ear there instead of Rosa's.)

It worked relatively well, that is, until Rosa started screaming and went for the Yeerk, which was very very bad; as we needed to keep her alive until we found out what the project was about. I grabbed her flailing arms and dragged her out of the room, upstairs to where my mother was.

Mom looked up at me, at Rosa who was beginning to sob, and then took over.

"I'll take her," she offered, and Rosa stumbled into her arms after I released her.

I watched for a moment as Mom took Rosa upstairs, and then went back to my domain.

Jenny was standing next to the bucket of water, her hologram eyes closed. They opened when she heard my approach.

"They can't continue the project without this Yeerk," she told me quietly. "They were trying to figure out a way to convert all and any bodies of water to lakes of Kadrona by using satellites."

Jake, Marco, Rachel and Cassie emerged from the shadows of the basement, as well as Tobias and Aximili who were in human morph. We stood for a moment and stared at each other as Jenny continued.

"But Rosa's Yeerk has all the vital information. She was really careful to make sure that only she had that information, apparently, so no one else could get credit for the project."

"So, now, what?" asked Marco.

"She doesn't want to fight," a voice said from the doorway, and I turned to see Oscar slowly make his way down the basement stairs.

"She doesn't want to fight," he repeated. "Mom asked her, and she said no. She doesn't want anything to do with the Yeerks. Mom also says she's going to keep her, only she needs a way to make Rosa not look like Rosa so the Yeerks don't go after her."

"I can do that," Jenny offered. "We can set up a permanent hologram covering for her."

Jenny and Oscar went back upstairs, leaving the seven of us alone.

This time, I broke the silence.

"I'm sorry," I said.

Jake smiled, as did Cassie, and Rachel, and Marco and Tobias, and even Aximili gave an odd smile.

"It's okay," Cassie said, and the others murmured their assent.

"Thanks," I whispered, refusing to look at them. "Thanks."

**Review Responses**

::throws flowers to celebrate:: And that is the end of The Healing! Next up is The Summons, then The Princess, then Nadar Chronicles 3!!! ::pumps fist::

I've decided by now that I'm not going to get everything done by the time I graduate high school. Oh, well. I'll just keep writing into college. I might get Nadar Chronicles 3 done before high school, but I've got so much more to write!!!!! Way into the future, with different characters… I've got it all in my head.

**Aldrea**** – **Thanks for dropping a review! I'm glad you like this fic – this is the last chapter, but more will be coming!

**A-cat – **Yeah, I do realize that it's annoying for my consistent readers to have to read about her past over and over again, so for the next two Animorphy books I'm not going to do that. I might have a recap in Nadar Chronicles 3, but that won't come for a while. And there were some new Nadar acts in this one… tried to touch on how our culture thinks assassins are cool thing.  
And yeah, the whole attitude vs. circumstance. I'm going to play with that theme more, too. I was also confused about the whole Tom thing… I'm going to keep him unrescued for now, mostly to not to deviate too much from the original universe. I thought that it might be because they were afraid of the risk, and that if the Yeerks found that the Andalite bandits targeted this one specific Yeerk, they might get suspicious. Anyway, thanks for your review and your email – here's an update!

**Ladies – **Hope this answers some of your questions. I didn't like this chapter as much, mostly because I want to get to Nadar Chronicles 3! Glad you liked the previous chapter though!

**F-O-L – **Yeah, that's fine. Thanks for your review! This chapter did have more action it for you! And about betaing – sorry, but I can't do that until maybe next summer. I'm really busy in the school year, and so to get it up at all I have to go without betaing. Sorry!

**Rachel9466 – **Thanks! Glad you liked this fic. Yeah, the whole idiots thing was fun – we had a fun History class discussing that.

**Eyes of Forest – **Thanks for your hugs! ::hugs back:: Glad you liked the previous chapter. Hope you like this one, too!

**DH - **::gives huge hug for great long review that made me so happy:: Yeah, Maya is going through some self-admitting things here. Like the fact that she makes mistakes, and isn't always right. And I do agree about the whole thing that it was her choice… not something that _made _her that way, but her own choice. And ah yes, the Cassie Hater's club. I actually don't mind Cassie – I'm using her kind of as my "keep all the Animorphs from becoming Nadar" person, but since Maya is a 1st gen Nadar, she and Cassie aren't too tight. And yeah, that's always the way I viewed war – like with Rach, she can't go back after she's been touched by war.  
And Leonora! Yes. Can you give me the website again so I can check out Joseph? I already gave her a brother, but he's an older brother and adopted… its confusing, mostly because it's taken a while. She won't be in Nadar Chronicles 3 that much, but she has a _major major _part in Mayanites: Nadar and Kyan. I've pretty much created a character for her in my mind, but extra tidbits always help.

**Hey **– Oh, c'mon. The only time I typed in the reviews for you were when you were yelling the review across the room at me because you refused to type it in yourself. Forging, indeed. And I'm updating again without letting you proofread b/c you're off away somewhere and I'm at home… not doing work… because I'm sick. So eat me.

Hopefully I can get another chapter done before winter break is over. Hopefully


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